Get on your bike and save tax payers £520m
Government backed cycling group Cycling England have said that by encouraging more people onto bikes we could save the taxpayer £520 million and help reduce the effects of climate change. They claim that just a 20% increase in journeys by bike would lower health costs and reduce congestion. They added if the Government were to make an annual investment of £70 million in cycling initiatives they could cut up to 54 million car journeys per year by 2012, which would reduce CO2 emissions by 35,000 tonnes.
[via The Guardian]
The report states if an adult swaps their car for a bike on an average return journey of just 2.5 miles they will save £137.28 per year in reduced congestion. The average cyclist currently saves the NHS £28.30 annually.
"There are very few activities that tackle so many of the things that the government is concerned about, from health and obesity to government and pollution," said Phillip Darnton, chairman of Cycling England. "An investment of £70m is small in terms of government spending, and this study shows that it will work."
In London there has been a fall in the number of cycle trips - from 18 persons in 1997 to 14 by 2005. This is despite money being spent on improving infrastructure. "Even achieving a modest target of returning the number of trips to the 1995 level within the next 10 years could save around £523m [by 2015]," said the study, by SQW Consulting.
A DfT spokeswoman said: "We are aware cycling brings economic benefits in terms of reducing congestion, helping tackle climate change and improving air quality and health - that's why the government is working to promote cycling. But we need to study these figures further."
